Cinco de Mayo con Dos Cervezas

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, perhaps the most American of all Mexican holidays. In an utterly futile attempt to bring down Mexican brewing behemoth Grupo Modelo, Two Beers Brewing has created a beer to quench the thirst of beer-lovers looking to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with something more interesting than Corona-backed Cuervo. I’m joking of course. Well, not about the beer.

First off, let’s define our terms. Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces in 1862. Unlike the United States, pretty much nobody in Mexico celebrates Cinco de Mayo. It is not Mexican Independence Day, which falls on September 16th. Compared to Cinco De Mayo, far fewer people in the United States celebrate Mexican Independence Day, presumably because Dieciseis de Septiembre is so much more difficult to say when you’re drunk.

Can You Say, “IPA Poppers?”

While it is not likely that many readers of this blog plan to go fight the crowd at the local Azteca, perhaps you’d like to go out for a beer on Cinco de Mayo. There will be at least one civilized observance of Cinco de Mayo thanks to Joel Vandenbrink, Brewmaster at Two Beers Brewing.

Joel concocted a special infused/spiced IPA that will pour tomorrow at the Noble Fir in Ballard. According to Joel, “It smells like peppers, but still drinks like an IPA with a lingering spice on the back of the tongue.”

Joel explains the process: “We took our regular Evo IPA, sliced up jalapenos really tiny and transferred the beer over them into the finish keg. From there, we added one more sliced and diced Jalapeno to the keg that the beer is being poured from.”

The Jalapeno Evo goes on tap tomorrow at the Noble Fir when they open at 4:00. Joel will be there if you want to ask questions about this beer or any of the other beers he’s brewing these days.